One of the most common questions we get is “how do I get more subscribers?” This post will list the most effective ways of doing just that! These tips come directly from our customers whose experiences have proven that they work.

1) Bring up your keyword and the number whenever you are talking to your customer base. If you go Live on Facebook or similar streaming services, mention your keyword and number at the beginning, middle, and end of your sale or presentation. This will help increase the chance that people who join late or are only watching for a short time still hear the information. These are the people you want to subscribe the most, because you know they’re interested in your product or business.

2) Post the link to your sign-up page on your social media accounts. On Twitter, pin a tweet with the link to the top of your feed so anybody visiting your profile will be sure to see it. On Facebook, include it in the Details of your page.

4) Include your keyword and number in your Facebook and/or Twitter header images! Again- this will help ensure that you’re interested customers will see the information required to subscribe!

5) Take advantage of the Marketing Tools section of your Mobile Text Alerts dashboard. There are things like Text-in Giveaways that you can use to incentivize people to subscribe. All they have to do is subscribe and they’ll be entered into your giveaway. A winner will be automatically selected for you at the end of the giveaway.

6) If you have any other marketing campaigns, include the sign-up link or the keyword/number required to subscribe in them. For instance, if you have an e-mail newsletter or mailing list you could include the link in your e-mail signature, or you can just include a blurb about how to sign up for text alerts to receive the latest and greatest news!

7) If you operate a brick and motor store or restaurant, have a sign up sheet available at the front desk, or include a flier on the tables with the pertinent information. Then, you can upload them to Mobile Text Alerts quickly and efficiently by using our spreadsheet template.

8) Finally, give people good reasons to want to subscribe! Only send information that is useful and relevant to your subscriber base, and do keep in mind that while some people are ok with being texted every day, there are others that won’t be comfortable with that same frequency. You know your customer base best, but make sure you put some thought into what the correct frequency should be for sending your alerts!

Here you can see the information that is provided to you on the main page of your Mobile Text Alerts dashboard. This is the best place to quickly view your keyword/number combination, as well as get your sign-up page link!

If you have any other tips and tricks for us and our readers, feel free to leave a comment below!

Are mass text alerts a good idea for your organization? What if people get annoyed by your mass text messages? What if the plan is too expensive or too intrusive?

While these questions raise valid concerns, mass text alerts are a smart idea in the modern age. They help you connect with your customers on a personal level, plus they’re among the most affordable ways to market your business. Mass text alerts are based upon an opt-in approach, create records for easy reference and cannot be ignored. We’ll explain why sending mass text messages is a wonderful way to connect with your customer base and why you should start sending text alerts now.

1. Mass Text Alerts Are Affordable

Texting can actually be quite inexpensive. You don’t need to break your bank to send alerts for your organization. Plans start as low as $19 per month, so even if your organization is a nonprofit or a small business on a limited budget, you can take advantage of mass text alert services.

2. Mass Text Alerts Are Based Upon an Opt-In Approach

In order to legally be able to receive mass text alerts, subscribers need to give their consent. They can give this consent by texting in your keyword to opt in, by going to your web sign-up page, or by signing some type of consent form. Giving their consent means that they want to receive messages from you.

Giving this consent means that they won’t find your texts annoying or intrusive. They have willingly subscribed to your alerts. As long as you pay attention to the wants and needs of your audience and exercise wisdom when sending messages, they’ll look forward to hearing from you.

3. Mass Text Alerts Are Not Ignored

Unlike with emails or social media posts, which people often ignore without reading, people almost always read their text messages. It is a highly rare occurrence for a text message to go unread.

When you send a mass text alert, your subscribers are much more likely to pay attention to your message.

4. Mass Text Alerts Create a Record for Easy Reference

With other forms of communication, it’s easy for messages to get lost or forgotten. But with mass text alerts, people have your message conveniently accessible on their phones.

Your subscribers will appreciate having information on their phones for handy access. Another perk is they can easily add any information to their phone’s reminder or calendar system.

The above items represent only a few simple reasons why sending mass text alerts is a great idea for whatever organization you’re a part of. Texting is the law of the land these days — it’s easily overtaken email, phone calls, and social media as many people’s primary means of communication.

Why not meet people where they are? Start sending text alerts right now.

Try a free test account and discover how an online SMS service can help your business today!

Raise your hand if you have ever completely forgot about an important appointment and had to last-minute move around your day to make the appointment – or worse, miss the appointment entirely?

Although this is an online digital post and we can’t see each other, I’d bet money that you’re not the only one raising your hand right now.

Let’s face it- here in the USA, we are bombarded with things to do, people to see, and places to go. Our schedules fill up faster than our stomachs during a Thanksgiving meal. How’s that for an analogy 🙂

A missed appointment here and there is not the end of the world, but it can put a huge disruption in your schedule- as well as inconvenience you and others as you try and reschedule it.

And from the perspective of offices/businesses, a missed appointment can mean a dip in your income- and not to mention, your secretary’s time being taken with phone calls regarding rescheduling appointments. So instead of acting in response, how about trying prevention?

Welcome, Appointment Reminder text messages.

These past years, we have watched the sheer capacity of communication transform with text messaging; and we know that 95 out of 100 texts are opened and read within 3 minutes of receiving them. Text messages boast:

With these advantages, what better form of communication is there to send out reminders for important appointments? Some businesses and medical offices have already taken advantage of this strategy.

But instead of searching and paying for a completely new service to do this for you,

Mobile Text Alerts is proud to offer you this functionality – FREE with your account.

Utilizing a calendar built right into your account, Mobile Text Alerts will send out two reminder texts about upcoming appointments; one reminder approximately 24 hours before the appointment, and one reminder approximately 30 minutes before!

To get started, reach out to support at contact@mobile-text-alerts.com. Once they’ve enabled your account, you’ll see an ‘Appointment Reminders’ tab appear:

Once you click on that, you’ll find a page that has a calendar made up for you. Everything has been set up visually for you to try and provide an easy-to-use and straightforward experience. Simply click anywhere on the calendar to input an appointment date! You’ll see a pop-up window appear, asking you for the details of the appointment. Make sure that your clients who have appointments with you are listed as subscribers in your database- if they’re not your subscriber, they won’t receive your message!

When finished entering the information, just click ‘Add’!

Once this is completed, an entry will appear on your calendar with the new appointment (You can click on this entry anytime to edit it). Once you have this completed, your reminder texts are all set up! Your client will receive a reminder text approximately 24 hours before the appointment, as well as 30 minutes before- because we all know (and some of us are) those people who still forget the day of (mornings can be hectic, right?).

As a cherry-on-top of this ultra-simple treat, our development team provided the ability to integrate with Google Calendar! With this function, you can skip inputting your appointments/events into our calendar and just sync your own calendar!

To accomplish this, there has to be some way that our system can connect your Google events to which subscriber that will need to be texted. You’ll want to make sure to add the phone number of the subscriber into their appointment description. As long as it’s somewhere in the title or description, our system will pull that phone number and connect that to your subscriber list- making sure to send that subscriber a reminder text.

Or,

Once you are finished with this, simply press ‘Sync’ on your Mobile Text Alerts page! And just like that, your Google Calendar is now integrated with your Mobile Text Alerts account!

There’s a couple things to keep in mind:

—> You can customize the reminder message! To do this, look just below the Google Calendar integration area. You’ll see an area that looks like this:

Our system provides for you to insert the First Name, Last Name, and Appointment Date, giving your clients all the information they need. Don’t forget to press ‘Save’!

—————–

—> Before inserting appointments in your Calendar, you’ll need to make sure that your clients and their phone numbers are already listed as subscribers in your account! You can update and edit your subscriber list in your ‘Subscribers’ tab –> ‘Manage Subscribers’. For more information on subscribers and increasing your subscriber base, check out our video here.

—————-

—> As always, make sure your timezone is correct! You can edit your timezone information in the ‘Settings’ tab in your account.

—————-

Say goodbye to forgetting important appointments and to losing income on ‘no-shows’! We sincerely hope you find this to be a useful addition to your Mobile Text Alerts account. Feel free to reach out to contact@mobile-text-alerts.com with any questions or concerns!

Although text message marketing is a convenient and useful means of communication, it admittedly opens the door for misunderstanding more than many other communication avenues. The brevity, lack of body language, and tone of voice can all contribute to confusion if we’re not careful with our text message marketing campaigns. In fact, even emojis can be misinterpreted, which can result in some awkward situations. Rather than fear texting, embrace its possibilities by following some tips from Mobile Text Alerts. Our guide helps you avoid confusion and create effective text-based marketing campaigns your customers will love.

6 Tips to Avoid Miscommunication in Text Message Marketing Campaigns

Be precise.

Say exactly what you mean. Don’t assume that your recipients will automatically follow your line of thinking. What is obvious to you may not be obvious to the person on the other end of your text message! Be clear about what you’re trying to say.

Get to the point.

Although you should clearly specify exactly what you mean, you should also make sure you don’t go overboard on the wordage. Don’t be overly flowery or long in your description. Be as brief as possible while also being as clear as possible.

Proofread.

Before you hit “Send,” look over your message for any mistakes in grammar, spelling, or punctuation that might make it confusing for your recipients to understand. Read the whole message to yourself to make sure it makes sense!

Know your recipients.

It’s important to be aware of your recipients and how they might react to what you’re saying. A 75-year-old retiree might interpret things differently than a 20-year-old college student.

Slow down.

Don’t be in a rush to send your message out! Slowing down and paying careful attention to what you’re doing can help avoid mistakes. It can also help you be more thoughtful in your approach.

Keep your message as one text.

As much as possible, you should try to keep your messages from splitting up into two or more texts. Not only do people generally dislike receiving and reading longer texts, having your message split can also create confusion as different parts of the message are not always delivered in the correct order.

Following these tips will significantly increase your ability to communicate effectively via texting! Be confident in your ability to get your text messages across without any confusion.

Create an effective text message marketing campaign with an online SMS service from Mobile Text Alerts.

Use text alerts for live sales, inventory updates, educational notifications, and more! It’s a great way to get your customers involved and connect them to your product.

You could even use multi-level marketing text alerts to recruit and connect with other interested sellers/retailers- You could send them messages about all the great perks and benefits of your business to pique their interest, or send out links to a newsletter or blog. The possibilities are endless!

Phones are everywhere in the modern world, which makes SMS marketing more relevant than ever. Even only a decade ago, a fraction of the population had access to mobile communication. These days, everyone has a smartphone, including older generations who were once confounded by these devices.

SMS marketing is a highly effective means of spreading your message via mobile. It allows you to target ads more effectively and generate a better return on investment overall. It’s no wonder advertisers rely heavily on SMS marketing as a way of reaching new audiences.

Today we’ll take a look at mobile marketing and how it can impact your business, as well as provide you with a list of templates that you can use to make the most out of your next text message marketing campaign.

Now some may think all “Humbug” on the thought of leveraging text messages into your marketing strategy, we believe that the “proof is in the pudding.”

So before we show you some juicy templates you can plug and play for your campaign or while you are on our free trial, we want to show you some impressive case studies to get your endorphins running!

SMS Marketing: Top Three Case Studies

Before we take a look at some templates that you can use, we should first see how texting has affected some real-world companies.

Tao Nightclub

This social spot in Las Vegas has an upscale, swanky vibe that is attractive to young, hip people.

Recently, the club wanted to promote an event, but owners wanted to make sure that the invites were exclusive, rather than broadcasting it to anyone who would listen.

At the time, they had about 2000 mobile subscribers, so they drafted an invite-only text that was available to them exclusively.

As a result, the club had about 220 more attendees for the event or a redemption rate of 11 percent.

That generated an additional $1,770 in admission fees, plus another $4,000+ in drinks.

Overall, as a direct effect of the text marketing, the club made an extra $6000.

Redbox

As an alternative to subscription sites like Netflix, Redbox has a significant market share in the home video business.

With 33,000 kiosks across the country, this company already has a wide reach.

Recently, Redbox offered a 10-day deal wherein customers could receive discounts on their next rental.

Even though the deal lasted just over a week, the response was overwhelming.

Over 1.5 million texts were sent and received over that time, making it one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever.

More than 400,000 customers participated, which is more than what the company was expecting.

Part of the reason for its success was that the texts went out with other promotional materials, and it was a limited-time offer, which spurred people to take action immediately.

Texas Roadhouse

As a chain with over 400 restaurants, Texas Roadhouse already has a sizeable chunk of the market.

However, recently the barbecue chain decided to go mobile and offered a free appetizer if people signed up for its mobile list.

This tactic is extremely popular, and the restaurant had a 17 percent redemption rate.

As we all know, a free appetizer is not enough to sate anyone’s appetite, so that means there were a lot of additional sales to go with those deals.

This made the chain very happy in the end.

Amazingly enough, this was done at only 20 of their restaurants, making the success rate even higher.

Now onto the Juicy SMS Plug & Play Messaging Templates….

Text Message Marketing Templates

As you can see, marketing to your audience via text message can have some pretty impressive results.

However, texting can do so much more for your business than promote it, which is why we are offering a variety of templates, including those that can be used to notify your customers, remind them, or allow them to enter an exclusive contest.

Ultimately, the sky’s the limit when it comes to mobile marketing. Whatever you can think of can work if you do it properly.

SMS Marketing for Promotions

When it comes to promoting your business, there are a few ways that you can go about it.

Here are some different methods that can work, along with templates for each.

SMS Marketing Templates for Promotional

Joe’s Tires is having a special promotion: Buy three tires, get the fourth one FREE! While supplies last, until November 30th.

Hurry! Coffee Hut is having a deal through the end of the week. If you buy a large coffee, you get 10% off your next order! Redeem now!

Don’t forget your holiday shopping. Clothing Barn is having a sale right now, where your favorite items are marked down by up to 30%. Sale lasts until January 3rd.

6 Case Studies For Discounts/Promotions

1.) Seattle Sun Tan

Seattle Sun Tan recently ran a promotion where they offered 20 percent off to any customer that joined their mobile VIP club.

This generated almost $200,000 in new sales, as 4,750 people opted in and came to the store.

Incredibly, this was all within the first 30 days.

The best part?

New customers that came in as a result spent five times more than regular customers.

SMS Marketing Templates for Subscription Invitation

If you want to find out the latest sales and deals, then subscribe to our mailing list! You will be the first to know when a deal is happening. Click here to subscribe: dressbarn.com/deals

Adventure Park has discount days throughout the year. If you want to be among the first to get reduced admission, subscribe to our mailing list now. adventurepark.com/discountdays

6 Case Studies for Signing Up for Notifications

1.) Silverstone

British motor racing circuit Silverstone recently used texting to increase its attendance for a Formula 1 British Grand Prix.

Silverstone texted its 45,000 subscriber database, all of whom had either bought a ticket to a Silverstone event or expressed interest in one.

Incredibly, the message generated a 680 percent ROI for the company, which helped make the event a huge success.

2.) Kiehl’s

Kiehl’s is a cosmetic company based in the US.

For its latest marketing campaign, the business asked customers to sign up for location-based coupons through email or text message.

During the first six months, the company found that 73 percent of those that had signed up made a purchase, and more than half of those that did used text as a means of subscribing.

3.) Chuck-E-Cheese

Chuck-E-Cheese, the family-oriented restaurant chain, is hopping on the mobile bandwagon.

In fact, about 5 percent of all new email addresses obtained by the pizza chain came through a text-message option.

In addition to generating new subscribers, those that opt-in through text are 10 to 20 percent more likely to open offers from the restaurant, compared to those who went through other methods, such as email.

These mobile users also click on coupons about 10 percent more often as well.

4.) Ford Motor Company

To generate more interest in the new Taurus and Escape models, Ford Motor Company invited prospective customers to text the company to find out more information about the cars.

When customers would do so, they would be asked to enter their location as well as which car they were most interested in.

Then prospective buyers would get a follow-up call from a local dealership.

Amazingly, this resulted in a 14 percent conversion rate.

5.) Julep

Julepis an online cosmetic store.

Recently, the company launched a campaign to drive more sales, so it offered a discount to all mobile users that signed up for their contact list via text.

Within 24 hours, the company had received 5,000 texts, with a redemption rate of 10.7 percent.

6.) Papa John’s

In the UK, a Papa John’s franchise ran a three-week texting campaign where it offered pizzas for 6.99 carry out or 8.99 delivery.

The store drew from over 8,100 customers that had opted in previously.

Over that period, the store saw a 33 percent increase in sales.

SMS Notifications Templates

One way that texting can help your business is to notify customers of various things that they would otherwise miss or forget.

Some examples include delivery status, account cancellation, among other things.

This way, your customers can stay on top of their daily lives.

Delivery Notifications

Dear Mr. Johnson. Your package from Dress Barn has arrived. Thank you for shopping with us!

Ms. Smith, your new credit card should be arriving in the mail soon. Once you receive it, contact us at capitalbank.com/activation to get it activated. Don’t delay!

Account Status

You are now part of Burger Shack’s VIP club! To find out about our special offers, download our app from Google Play or the App Store.

Mrs. Stevens, your account has been activated with us. Now you can access your shopping cart and pay directly through our app. M.dressbarn.com

Account Cancellation

We’re sorry to see you go! You are now officially unsubscribed from Burger Shack’s VIP club. We hope to see you again soon.

Dear Mr. Andrews, your checking account has been successfully closed. Thank you for banking with us.

Appointment Reminders

If you have a business that relies on appointments, then a text reminder is a fantastic way to ensure that your clients will show up on time, ready to go.

In many cases, people forget to add an appointment to their calendar, which is where you come into play.

Most customers like getting a reminder, as they would forget the appointment completely otherwise.

Dear Mrs. Jackson, this is a reminder that you have a spa appointment scheduled with our Midtown location tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm. If you need to reschedule or cancel, please contact us at 555-9100

Mr. Johnson, we are here to remind you that you have a dentist appointment tomorrow at 10:30 am with Dr. Phillips. Please be sure to arrive fifteen minutes early so we can check you in.

Thank you for using Salon Ultra as your beauty specialist. This notification is to remind you that you have an appointment for a trim at 9:30 am on August 13th. For questions or to reschedule, call us at 877-444-3321

Dear Mrs. Lowell, we are here to remind you that you have an open house walkthrough tomorrow at 11 am with your realtor Deborah. Please arrive promptly. Thank you.

In-House Communication

For larger companies, it can be hard to manage communications between supervisors and staff.

Using text messaging can help alleviate this problem by making it easier to notify staff members of any changes or upcoming events.

Texts also represent a great way to let them know that they are appreciated through the use of holiday messages.

Pick Up/Delivery Notification

Your next pick up is at 323 Main St at 10:15 am. Please confirm by replying “Yes” to this message.

Staffing Request

Can you work an event this weekend in Orange County? Please respond yes or no to confirm and receive details.

Are you available to work tomorrow evening? If so, contact HR at 555-3212.

William has called out sick. Can you cover for him tonight? Please confirm yes or no ASAP. Thank you.

Holiday Greetings

Happy Birthday Martha! From all of us at Brown Office Supplies, we hope that you have a wonderful celebration.

Burger Shack wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for making our team great!

Meetings and Conferences

Jon, the meeting has been moved from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Please respond to confirm ASAP.

This month’s conference will be held at the Downtown Ramada. The address is 5115 S Robertson Ave. Please check in no later than 5 pm on the first day.

Confirmations

When it comes to ordering things online, customers like to get a notification that their purchase or reservation has been confirmed.

That way, customers don’t have to worry about anything, and they have peace of mind.

Here are some template examples of confirmation statuses.

Thank you for choosing Jetway Airlines! Your flight is confirmed for August 7th. Flight 554 from Newark to Los Angeles. See your itinerary here: jetwayair.com/confirmations

You are now booked for a three-night stay at Montecito Resorts and Hotel. Your trip will be from September 14th to the 17th. Check-in is at 3 pm. See you then!

Your recent payment of $127 has posted. Thank you for using Capital Bank.

Your order has been received. You should get your delivery no later than Monday, December 2nd. Thank you for shopping at Dress Barn.

Dear Mr. Johnson. This message is to inform you that your flight 589 has been canceled. Please contact us at 555-9009 immediately to reschedule.

SMS Marketing Template For Contests

A great way to drive new traffic to your business is to have a contest where customers can win a prize.

The allure of free stuff is enough to get most people to surrender their phone numbers, which means you can increase your subscriptions without seeming too pushy.

Here are some great examples.

Do you want to stay for two nights at the gorgeous Desert Winds Resort? If so, then text “MyDreamVacation” to 33433, and you will automatically be entered for a chance to win!

For the month of December, Burger Shack is awarding prizes to our loyal customers. Text “Prize” to 88123 to be entered to win free food!

Do you love to travel? Jetway Airlines has you covered. Text “FlyMeAway” to 34551 and you will be entered for a chance to get a free trip!

Case Study for Running a SMS Contest Message

Palms Resort and Casino

The Palms Resort and Casino recently ran a marketing campaign where it invited customers to text “Palms” to 76462.

By doing so, they would instantly be qualified to win a free night’s stay as well as dinner for two.

Usually, contests can convert about 37 percent of your customers to be mobile subscribers, but in this case, Palms was able to get 60 percent of new users to agree to get alerts from the brand.

SMS Marketing For Polls

If you’ve ever heard the phrase: “studies show that a certain percentage of people-,” then you know that a poll took place somewhere.

As a business, polling your customer base is a fantastic way to engage with them and see what is working.

To increase responses, offer a special deal.

At Burger Shack, we’re curious what your favorite menu item is. Text us your number one meal option, and we’ll give you a free drink. Text 55655 to qualify.

At Capital Bank, we are committed to our customers. We would love to hear from you regarding how well you enjoy our customer service. Rate our service level by texting “Good,” “Fair,” or “Poor” to 22312.

Another way to conduct polling is to create a poll on your website and promote it via text.

Check out our customer appreciation poll and tell us what you think! At Dress Barn, we’re committed to making you fashionable. Click here to participate: dressbarn.com/poll

SMS Alerts For Banking Templates

For any business that does banking, it’s important that you notify your customers of any activity to their account.

Because identity theft is a growing problem, this can add an extra layer of security for your clientele.

Using a mass-texting service like Mobile Text Alerts is beneficial for a variety of users. For one, a mass texting service allows you to pre-record voice messages and automatically send those messages at a later time. Whether you own a business and are scheduling texts to use in your marketing campaign or you’re running for political office and need to pre-record voice messages to send to voters, a mass texting service is a must-have communications tool. Schools, doctor offices, city governments, and local news stations can all benefit from this technology. Simply follow the steps below to get started.

Upgrade from your control panel.

Go to the Upgrades->Add Phone Alerts tab on your control panel, select which plan you would like, and click “Add Phone Alerts to your Account” to get the feature added.

You can also contact us via the contact form, email (contact@mobile-text-alerts.com), phone (531-365-0224), or the chat box on the homepage. Request to be enabled for phone alerts, and a representative will get your account set up to use the feature!

Record a message.

There are two ways to record a message:

Go to the Phone Messages->Send a Message tab on your control panel. From there you will see two icons toward the top of your screen (see below). Click on the green icon to start recording and the “Stop” icon to stop the recording (note that this may not work for some browsers, and you will need to enable permission to access the microphone when the system prompts). After you have clicked the “Stop” icon, the page should refresh itself and your new recording should show up in the list of recordings under the “Select Message to Send” box toward the bottom of the page.

After your account has been enabled for Phone Alerts you will receive a PIN. You can then dial 201-351-4428. The system will ask for your PIN and you you can follow the instructions that the system gives you to record your message. (Note: if you ever lose or forget your PIN number, contact us and we can retrieve it for you.) When you are doing recording, your message will show up on the Phone Messages->Send a Message tab on your control panel.

Send your message.

From the Phone Messages->Send a Message page you will first select whether you want your voice message to be sent out immediately, or if you want to schedule it to be automatically sent out at a later date/time.

Then you select which recipients you want to receive your message. You can do one of the following:

You can check the “Send Message to All Subscribers” box. This will send your voice message to every number that is on your account.

You can type in the name of one or more of your groups. This will only send your message to the members who are a part of that group (more on groups here).

You can select recipients individually by checking the “Send Message” box of each number that you want to receive your message.

Lastly, scroll to the bottom of the page to select the message that you want to send. Click on the row of the message to highlight it. Then click “Send Phone Message” and your message will be sent!

To make sure that you have the right message before you send it, you can hear the pre-recorded message by clicking the “Preview Message” arrow. You can also search for messages using the search bar. (You can also click on the name of a message to rename it.)

Mass Texting Services Pricing

Phone alerts are priced according to how many phone messages you want to include in your mass texting service. The usual rates are:

500 calls/month – $15/month

2,000 calls/month – $48/month

5,000 calls/month – $115/month

10,000 calls/month – $222/month

25,000 calls/month – $525/month

So for the 500-call plan, for example, you are able to send up to 500 phone calls in a month for $15. Additional calls can be purchased for $.03 per phone call.

Feel free to contact us to learn more about our mass texting services and for answers to any questions you may have. Set up your online SMS service with Mobile Text Alerts today!

Having the ability to organize your subscribers into groups is an important feature of any SMS marketing service. With Mobile Text Alerts, you can add, edit, and remove groups and subscribers via the Control Panel, which makes it easier to keep your subscriber lists updated. You no longer have to comb through individual records to find the subscribers you seek.

Our SMS marketing service is especially helpful for marketers at all types of organizations. You don’t have to individually select recipients each time you want to send a message. Get started with our online SMS service and see how much time you can save.

Step 2: Click “Add a Group”

To add a group, click the green “Add a Group” button towards the top of your screen. A new row will be added to the table:

Step 3: Edit group information

Information you can edit after clicking “Add a Group” includes the following:

Name – type in the group’s name. (This is the only information that is necessary to enter; the rest is optional.)

Hide Group – check this box if you don’t want your group to show up on your sign-in page.

Group Keyword – you can type in a keyword for your group here. Then, when subscribers text in to be added to your text alerts system, they can use this keyword to be automatically added to this specific group.

Welcome Message – type in a welcome message for your subscribers. This message will be texted to anyone who is added to your group.

II. Adding Subscribers to Groups

Option 1: Add subscribers manually

Step 2: Click on the row of a subscriber (or hold shift and click on the rows of multiple subscribers) that you want to add to your group.

Step 3: Click “Add Subscribers to Group” towards the middle of your screen and then select from the drop-down menu which group you want to add your subscriber(s) to.

Option 2: Have subscribers sign up for groups on your sign-up page

Your subscribers will have the option to sign up for your various groups from your sign-up page (unless you opted to “hide group” when you added or edited your group information).

Your subscribers can simply check which groups they want to be added to, click “Sign Up Now,” and they will be automatically added to those groups. (More information about the sign-up page can be found here.)

Option 3: Have subscribers text in to be subscribed to a group

If you have groups set up, you are able to set up new keywords and assign a Target Group for your new keywords on the Manage Keywords page. People can text the keyword in to the number shown on the Manage Keywords page to be subscribed to your account and automatically added to the Target Group. (You can also designate a Group Keyword for your groups on the Manage Groups page, which subscribers can text in to 662-200-4303 to be subscribed and added to that group.)

Option 2: Remove subscribers from groups on the “Manage Groups” page

Step 2: Click “View Members” on the row of the group that you would like to remove subscribers from. Another box will show up on your screen showing you a list of all the members in that group.

Step 3: Click the “Remove from Group” arrow on the row of the subscriber that you want to remove from that group.

IV. Editing and Deleting Groups

Go to the “Manage Groups” page to edit or remove your groups.

Editing

To edit a group, click on the pencil-and-paper icon under the “Edit” column of the group that you would like to edit:

You can then enter in new information regarding your group:

(For an explanation of what these edit fields mean, see Step 2 of “Adding Groups” above.) Don’t forget to click “Save” when you are done editing!

Deleting

To delete a group from your account, click the trash can icon on the group you would like to remove. Or select the group(s) that you would like to remove and click the red “Remove Groups” button:

Note: this will not delete any of the subscribers in that group.

V. Other Things to Know

There are a few other features on the “Manage Groups” page that you might find helpful.

Search

Type a query into the search box on your keyboard to quickly find a specific group on your account. This is especially useful if you have a large number of groups on your account.

Copy to Clipboard

Clicking the “Copy to Clipboard” button next to the search bar will copy a list of your groups to your clipboard. You can then paste the list into a different document on your computer or device.

Export

Click “Export” to transfer your list of groups onto a spreadsheet that you can download onto your computer or device. You can export your list as a CSV, Excel, or PDF document, or you can select “Print” to see a printer-friendly version of the page that you can print from your browser.

View Members

You can see a list of all the subscribers that belong to a specific group by clicking “View Members” on that group’s row.

Clicking “View Members” will cause this screen to come up, showing a report of all the members’ names, phone numbers, and email addresses:

Your gym members have busy lifestyles that keep them on the run during the day. When you need to reach out with an important announcement or helpful message, you need an efficient way to make contact. Short message service is the perfect answer, offering a simple method for connecting with gym members quickly and reliably.

Consider the following top 10 situations where our short message service might have saved the day for gym patrons who were ultimately inconvenienced and upset by what they found on arrival.

1. Letting Customers Know When Your Showers Don’t Work

Nobody wants to workout hard and then be faced with the prospect of waiting until they get home to shower off the layer of sweat and stink.

It literally stinks.

Obviously you cannot control shower problems, but you can control how fast you get the word out to save your customers from a very icky inconvenience.

A Text Message Alert Example could say,

“Showers not working right now. Plumber should fix by 5 p.m. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Of course, you would change the time of the fix.

Letting your customers know when the dilemma is over is the key to good customer service.

2. When Class Schedules Change Suddenly

You absolutely need to send out a text message blast to make sure every client knows about changes that affect them and their schedules.

Sending text alerts as soon as a change happens with the daily schedule of classes mitigates many unhappy customers.

A Text Message Alert Example could say,

“Jennifer’s spin class canceled today. Will resume same time next week. Thanks for your patience.”

You can change the text if someone else can step in and substitute teach.

3. When The Gym Is Overcrowded

If you know what your busiest times of day are, you want to make sure you post or send out alerts to customers right away.

Some people only have so much time to workout before they need to be home or work, so ensuring they can know how busy you are during specific times of day in real time can help them plan their day more effectively.

That way, your customers get the most out of their workout time.

A Text Message Alert Example :

“We’re popular! The gym is packed. You might try in a few hours if you want to guarantee some time on our equipment.”

4. When The Gym is Not Crowded

Many of your customers prefer to go to the gym when no one is there in order to guarantee that they will have easy access to equipment.

Maybe some clients just want some peace and quiet while they sweat to the oldies.

Others, however, prefer to be in the gym when it is busy because they are more social and enjoy working out when it is not just them all alone.

Whatever their preference, letting customers know via text alert if the gym is quiet and uncrowded is also essential to improving their overall gym experience.

A Text Message Alert Example ,

“Great time to come in for a 30-minute workout. We’ve got plenty of bikes open.”

5. The Gym is Closed

This is a major reason to send out real-time text alerts regularly, especially if you are a 24/7 operation.

People can often only go to the gym very late or very early, and not being able to complete their daily workout not only throws of their fitness routine, but also their overall daily routine.

If clients show up to work out on a day you had to close unexpectedly, they are going to be very upset.

Honestly, who could blame them?

A Text Message Alert Example ,

“Sorry, but we had to close due to unforeseen circumstances. We’ll let you know when we’re back in business!”

6. When Gym Equipment is Broken

Not keeping customers updated about certain equipment being inoperable is not only frustrating and inconvenient, but it’s also downright dangerous.

Nobody wants to be injured while working out even under the best of conditions, so a customer getting hurt in a preventable situation is a great way to lose business and open yourself up to a potential lawsuit.

Sending out alerts to let customers know when equipment is down protects you and them.

A Text Message Alert Example :

“Two of our three treadmills are out of service today. Hopefully, they’ll be ready in a couple of days.”

One thing to remember is to not guarantee anything until you’re sure your business is ready to go.

7. Promotional Deals & Sales Offers

Gaining new members is a top priority for any gym, and running promotions and special offers is a great way to get more potential long-term customers in the door.

However, when you don’t promote these to your existing members to drive referrals, or when you don’t post accurate information on your website or mobile app, you need an additional means of sending out reliable notices of promotions and incentives.

A short message service is an excellent way to notify members of upcoming promotions and specials in real time.

It’s also a great way to let everyone know when those promotions end to save on confusion and frustration for new customers.

A Text Message Alert Example :

“For the next two weeks, refer a friend and get half off the next three months!”

8. Motivating Your Members

Send motivating messages out regularly to all your members via short message service, and help them stay focused and tracking toward their personal fitness goals.

A Text Message Alert Example :

“Work off those holiday pounds and get in shape for Valentines Day with our newest stationary bikes!”

9. Sending Healthy Recipes To Encourage Better Diet

Fitness experts and nutritionists agree that you are only as fit and capable of fitness as the fuel you put in your body.

Send your members links via text to help them eat better and see better results from their workouts.

A Text Message Alert Example:

“Check out this great vegan smoothie packed with vitamins and great taste!”

10. Encouraging Members To Come Back

Sometimes we fail at getting or staying fit.

It happens to the best of us.

Send out some support and encouragement to those members who haven’t come by for a while with a text message inspiration.

It could be a quote, a message, or even be a special incentive offered on a specific day to encourage members to come in and work out on a specific day.

Whatever you choose, use your text alerts to help your customers get back on track.

A Text Message Alert Example :

“We miss you. Did you know we added tons of new stuff since you saw us last? Come back in for a free two-week trial before signing anything.”

Ultimately, there are many more good reasons to use a text alert system at your gym to offer a superior customer service experience.

Business texting is becoming as common as an email or phone call. It’s quick and efficient, which is ideal for today’s busy professionals.

While you certainly could confine your communications entirely to text, it’s not always appropriate to do so. There’s a fine balance to proper business SMS use. Texting about complicated topics can confuse an issue, while using text too casually can diminish your essential sense of professionalism. Learn how you can carefully curate your business texting activities to maintain proper etiquette with all your client communications with these tips below. (Some of these ideas were borrowed from Business Insider, Laura Stack, and Miss eM@nners).

Don’t use too many abbreviations

While an occasional abbreviation may be appropriate, especially when considering that texts are confined to a maximum of 160 characters, an overuse of abbreviations can come across as unprofessional and even childish. So be careful not to LOL too much.

Don’t text during a meeting

You may think you’re being subtle when you text during a meeting, but everyone around you knows what you’re doing. Texting while someone else is leading a meeting or giving a presentation gives the impression that you really don’t care about what they have to say.

Be careful of auto-correct

We all know the embarrassment of accidentally sending a message with unintended words due to auto-correct. Just be sure to double-check what you are sending before you hit “send.”

Text sparingly

Don’t become a texting fiend. No one in a business setting wants to receive several texts from you per day. Use texting only for short, uncomplicated messages. Anything requiring a detailed explanation or a lot of back and forth should most likely be done in person or via email.

Don’t use texting to communicate bad news

No employer wants to read in a text message that you’re quitting your job. By the same token, no employee wants to get a text message saying that they’re fired. Sending these kinds of messages via texting is tacky, unprofessional, and inconsiderate.

Business texting can be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. The main thing to remember is to simply have common sense. And if you’re unsure about whether or not a certain texting behavior is appropriate in your situation, just ask your employer/co-worker (etc.) to make sure you know what the expectations are.

Take some time to learn more about the benefits of an online SMS service from Mobile Text Alerts.